Fetal skin organ culture.
The fetal response to cutaneous injury has been investigated in a variety of models; most have studied the differences between fetal and adult healing mechanisms in vivo and in cell culture. Further disclosure of the cellular and biochemical events requires a model that can be manipulated to study single factors influencing fetal tissue repair without the complex interactions that occur in vivo, but in a system that more closely approximates normal skin than cell culture models. This paper presents a method for the organ culture of fetal skin and its advantages as a model to help elucidate fetal healing mechanisms. Skin sections (1 x 1 cm) excised from the backs of fetuses of New Zealand white rabbits on day 27 gestation (term = 31 days) were placed eccentrically in 65-mm culture dishes and fed daily with 2.5 mL of DMEM containing 10% fetal calf serum, antibiotics, and 10 mM ascorbic acid. A separate group, treated similarly, received 4-mm punch wounds to assess the in vitro response to wounding. The specimens were incubated at 37 degrees C in humidified room air on a rocker platform to provide alternate exposure of the skin to air and medium. Gross observation at 3 weeks showed cells extending into the central wound, indicating that viable cells were proliferating and/or migrating from the tissue. Skin was examined histologically and was viable over the 3-week period studied. Organ culture, by maintaining tissue in the natural extracellular matrix, allows cell-to-cell contact and communication to be maintained while allowing controlled environmental manipulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Haynes
J H
JH
Department of Surgery, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0001.
Krummel
T M
TM
Flood
L C
LC
Cohen
I K
IK
Diegelmann
R F
RF
D000818:Animals; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011817:Rabbits; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000293:injuries; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*